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I admit to having never watched that show specifically, but I've seen enough bad reality TV and cheap "game shows" use gimmicks to fill time that I image my main complaints are summed up by this Family Guy clip.

If you haven't seen the episode before and don't speak Italian (I couldn't find the clip in English, but the relevant part happens at minute 8:00 here), the dialogue is basically:

This is the editting room.

Hey, do you want to see the rough cut of tomorrows episode?

[plays live action clip]

That's it? That was like 5 seconds!

Don't worry, they fill in the rest with shots of street signs, fronts of resaurants, and old footage from the A-team.

I understand that me not liking to watch people get into verbal arguments is a personal preference, but why would you want to watch poorly scripted and poorly acted "fights" trying to pass themselves off as "real". I've seen enough youtube clips pointing out continuity errors on Jersey Shore where Snooki's boots will come off and come back on between cuts due to reshoots to know it isn't even well executed schlock (which I can understand enjoying) so what's the appeal? Making fun of it like an Ed Wood movie? Even if you want to enjoy it on that level, the constant reality TV filler (pre-commercial break tease, post commercial break summary of what just happened, etc) would break the immersion and even ruin it on that level.

Again, as far as I can tell second hand. I admit to having never watched an actual episode of The Jersey Shore, and have only a passing familiarity with the genre. Feel free to rid me of my ignorance.

Where is the appeal, and is it actually well executed in that respect?

"Game" reality shows and things like Jersey Shore where the main gist is a bunch of people in the same house having drama is one thing, but afaik Honey Boo Boo is more like a documentary. Ice Road Truckers and the 800 other "manly" reality shows seldom get called out for being "trashy," but they're basically the same thing.

I don't have tons of reality-show-watching experience either, aside from the time I watched the entire season of "who wants to be paris hilton's new BFF" and a few times I've been stuck watching MTV.

The appeal is... that it's just entertaining, like funny and interesting etc. Why are "higher" forms of entertainment appealing? Probably very similar reasons, except maybe replace the low-brow humor and catfights with things like literary references and existential internal conflicts. The "higher" entertainment just requires more education to be able to grasp.

I'll call out Ice Road Truckers and Pawn Stars and Storage Wars as well, so at least I'm an equal opportunity hater :P

Although a big factor of the Honey Boo Boo hate (I think) has to do with the fact that it is a spin-off of Todlers in Tiaras. People already hate spin-offs (hence why season 9 of scrubs refused to acknowledge that it was a separate show) but the fact that it was a spin off of a Jersey Shore type show (from what I gather, I haven't watched Todlers in Tiaras either) means it was going to receive automatic hate no matter how good the final product actually ended up.

Also, upon reflection, I think my problem is that I have a very low tolerance for the kind of filler necessary to make Deal Or No Deal last a full half hour. I know that for me personally it isn't a higher/lower form of entertainment thing because I refuse to watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire unless it has been pre-recorded so I can fast forward all the dramatic music and light shows (which is like 60% of the show's running time)

Again, this is a Toddlers In Tiaras contestant, which is basically Miss Universe for pedophiles. Remember that according to reddit ephebophiles=good , but pedophiles=bad (because biotruths). Even ViolentAcres deleted "pedophile" content when he found it, and he is basically the embodiment of everything wrong with Reddit.

Reddit doesn't care for Miss Venezuela either, and all she did was answer one question in her non-native language. Now add on to that all the Snooki/Situation style "I can't believe you are famous for doing nothing on a reality show" hatred. Then on top of that layer on the fact that the mother is essentially forcing this lifestyle on her daughter without any read consent* and the hate seems pretty understandable without having to bring classism into the mix. Not that there aren't people on Reddit who are just straight up boggoted against rednecks, mind you, but to call it "calssist to the extreme" is a gross oversimplification.

* Seriously, Reddit is surprisingly all about bodily autonomy for pre-pubescent children (after which all girls become fair game for public oggling, naturally, because biotruths). You should have seen how offended people got when someone suggested it was ok for 4 year old girls to have pierced ears. It was like they were incapable of believing latino culture would allow (much less encourage) newborns to get their ears pierced (they were even mad someone let their five-year-old get pierced when she asked for it). I'm sorry I don't have the link, but it was with the same intensity you would see over a circumcision debate, so it was nice to see reddit defend the body autonomy of people who are assigned male at birth AND people who are assigned female at birth.